MARYSVILLE, Ohio, June 19 — Honda's four factories in central Ohio, including its sprawling assembly plant here that makes the highly popular Accord, turn out quality cars and motorcycles that are among the most profitable in the industry. But the United Auto Workers says that the stellar efficiency comes at a price — injury rates more than double the average for the American auto industry.þþThe union, which has never successfully organized an assembly plant solely owned by a foreign auto manufacturer in the United States, compiled the injury data from federal records and hopes to use the information as the cornerstone of its campaign to represent Honda's workers. It plans a public forum on June 26 in Springfield, not far from this city about 30 miles northwest of Columbus, and made the data available in advance to The New York Times.þþAccording to federal safety logs collected by the union, there were 23.5 injuries that caused lost workdays for every 100 workers at Honda's two auto assembly plants in Ohio in 2000. That was more than double the auto industry's average rate of 10.5 such injuries per 100 workers. (Lost- workday injuries are defined as those requiring time away from work or that lead to restrictions at work.)þþThe union attributes the injuries to Honda's demanding production rates, its widespread use of temporary workers who have less training than permanent employees and the absence of independent safety advocates in Honda plants to help injured workers find suitable jobs.þþHonda says that the safety logs, which the Labor Department requires companies to maintain, unfairly inflate its injury rates because the company aggressively reports even minor injuries and does not rush injured workers back to the job. Under new workplace rules imposed by the Bush administration this year, the company's injury rates will be cut in half, Honda adds.þþÿRegulations are subject to interpretation, and we interpret them very broadly,ÿ said Rick Schostek, a vice president and general counsel for Honda of America Manufacturing. ÿWe record everything that comes to our attention.ÿþþA government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that any changes in reported injury rates would be largely consistent across the auto industry, so the new rules would not erase differences from one company to another.þþEven higher injury rates were reported by Honda in 1998 and 1999, prompting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an arm of the Labor Department, to conduct a five-month inspection of the Marysville plant. The agency found 40 serious safety violations in the factory, which produces some Acura models as well as Accord sedans and coupes. The company paid more than $100,000 in fines.þþMany injuries to auto workers involve repetitive stress from drilling bolts or lifting parts over and over again. Other injuries are far more serious and include exposure to various industrial chemicals, workplace accidents and debilitating injuries to backs, shoulders and elbows.þþApart from the most serious injuries, workers at Honda's auto assembly plants also tend to be hurt more often than those at the typical auto factory. At Marysville, the total number of reported injury and illness cases in 2000, including those not causing a lost workday, was 51.5 for every 100 workers. The company's assembly plant in East Liberty had a rate of 71. The industry average was 22.7.þþBut Jim Samuel, a spokesman for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, said his agency's own information reflected well on Honda.þþÿWe consider them a pretty good self-insured employer and one that appears to be actively engaged in making a safer workplace,ÿ he said.þþAnother agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has recently questioned injured Honda workers as part of an inquiry, though it declines to say for what.þþBy most accounts, Honda's plants are tough places to work. ÿYou can walk down our assembly line and ask anybody what their injury is,ÿ said Daniel Lowe, a 34-year-old Honda assembly line worker and union supporter who said he recently suffered a double hernia. ÿThey've all had one.ÿþþDozens of current and former workers were interviewed for this article, some provided by the union, some by Honda and some contacted separately.þþÿTorn A.C.L., hernias, rotator cuff tears, herniated disks, carpal tunnel is really bad,ÿ Mr. Lowe added. ÿIt's incredible the stories you hear.ÿ þþGeorgine Johnson, a 61-year-old former Honda assembly line worker, said she had had surgery to alleviate a herniated disk in her neck aggravated by loading motorcycle gas tanks onto a rack. ÿThey try to get rid of you, absolutely,ÿ she said. ÿThey lay in waiting for the least little thing.ÿ þþHonda dismisses that notion.þþÿThey've recently come upon safety, and they're planning to use safety as their wedge for organizing,ÿ Mr. Schostek said, referring to the U.A.W. ÿOur approach to workplace safety has a philosophy to it, it's proactive, it's comprehensive, and it's respectful.ÿþþHe said that higher rates of injuries requiring lost work days reflected ÿfriendly leave-of-absence policies.ÿþþHe added, ÿWe don't force associates back to work before they believe they're ready.ÿþþLynna Jessee, a team leader who supervises 14 workers, said workplace safety was a constant consideration. The union, she said, is ÿtaking a few isolated incidents and making something big out of nothing.ÿþþArguing that safety records of the Big Three union plants are better than those at Japanese-owned factories is not easy. The much larger and older operations of the Big Three have had numerous fatal accidents the last two decades, while Honda's Ohio plants have avoided fatalities. At Ford Motor, where six workers died after an explosion at its River Rouge plant in 1999, the lost-workday rate was 20.4 in 2000, compared with 23.5 for Honda, though some of Ford's plants are half a century old.þþStill, safety might be the most potent wedge for the union because foreign automakers have countered the union's organizing efforts by increasing salaries and retirement benefits.þþÿWe're not making it a central issue, it is a central issue,ÿ said Bob King, the U.A.W. vice president for organizing. ÿWe build a campaign based on what the workers say the issues are.ÿ þþKeeping unions out has helped foreign automakers maintain significant leads in manufacturing efficiency. Last year, the average Honda automobile produced in North America required 31.2 hours of labor, according to Harbour & Associates, a consulting firm, compared with 39.3 hours for General Motors. þþSuch gaps translate into hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, though some workers complain of difficulty keeping pace.þþThere's many times on the assembly line where the adrenaline is high just because people are trying to keep up,ÿ said Russ Thomas, who works in Honda's engine plant in Anna, Ohio, and is a U.A.W. supporter who has taken fellow workers on tours of a Ford engine plant nearby.þþOnce serious injuries occur, being classified as disabled at Honda requires navigating a formidable phalanx of interlocking insurance and diagnostic companies, not to mention Honda itself, some workers contend.þþÿFrom the medical side, when someone does get hurt, Honda contests everything, even if it's an obvious injury,ÿ said Brenda Ober, who has worked at Honda for 20 years.þþMr. Schostek, the Honda spokesman, disputed that as well. ÿOne of the features of our workplace is that we provide many, many, many avenues for an associate to raise a concern,ÿ he said. If a worker's immediate supervisor dismisses a claim, he said, other alternatives include going to higher levels of management within the company and an ÿ800ÿ number to make complaints anonymously.þþWhile the Big Three look to close factories, foreign automakers build. Most of their recent development has been in the Deep South, where labor is less expensive and local law discourages unions.þþThe Marysville plant can produce nearly half a million cars and covers an area the size of roughly 1,000 football fields. Inside is a warren of catwalks and assembly lines, bleeping robot-controlled carts cruising aisles beside associates, as Honda calls management and worker alike. Scoreboards tally the day's production goals. þþÿIt was intimidating,ÿ said Mr. Lowe, who started in 1994 by putting rear bumpers on Accords. He is an Air Force veteran, and his combative streak is apparent from an eager grin and the U.A.W. pocket protector worn over his Honda-issue jumpsuit.þþÿIt was the fastest work I ever had to do in my life,ÿ he added. ÿThe first three months, ice packs on my wrists, my ankles and my lower back, not to mention the endless amounts of Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Alleve, painkillers by the bucket.ÿ þþRay Castle, an assembly line worker at a separate Honda motorcycle plant in Marysville, said: ÿMy brother and father-in-law work at Ford. Over there, people talk about how long they've got till they retire. At Honda, people are trying to get something else going, going back to school, so they can get out.ÿþþOther workers disagree that work at Honda is worse than elsewhere. ÿYou're going to have that in any plant,ÿ said Stan Parshall, a worker at Marysville who has worked for Ford. Though he supports the union, he said ÿfactory work is factory work.ÿþþThe jobs remain popular here, in part because the pay and benefits far exceed those of most other jobs in the surrounding area. Mr. Castle said that when he got a job at Honda he ÿhit the lottery.ÿ Other workers say when a cycle of injuries begins they stay to get benefits but risk becoming unemployable. þþDuring a recent visit to Honda's plants, the company displayed numerous efforts to improve workplace safety and said it was always adding ergonomic enhancements. A new section of movable floor at Marysville lowers workers to a comfortable height; a redesigned door speaker snaps in place, eliminating repetitive stress from bolting. þþÿWe're always constantly implementing new ideas,ÿ said Brian Bodey, a Honda team leader. ÿIt only helps us all if everybody's healthy.ÿþþBut Frank White, the U.A.W. organizer here, said workers have no recourse when they think otherwise.þþCertainly, bringing OSHA logs to light is not relished. The union said it had fought for years to obtain logs from Nissan, which it has repeatedly failed to unionize. Nissan's representatives did not return nearly a week's worth of calls on the subject.þþMr. King, the U.A.W. organizing chief, said Toyota first declined to provide the logs. ÿThen they gave it to us on dark red paper and used the smallest possible print,ÿ he said. ÿAnd then they blurred it.ÿþþRick Hesterberg, a Toyota spokesman, said ÿcopies that we provided were completely legible.ÿþþThe union is still in the process of collecting and compiling injury information on workers at those companies.þþAt Honda, the union argues that the company has unfairly tried to make the tactic of collecting logs an issue itself.þþTim Garrett, a Honda vice president, sent employees a letter earlier this year warning that their privacy was being invaded and that the union was seeking personal information to pass among co-workers.þþThe logs consist of lists of thousands of names, each with two or three words by it: ÿHernia right abdomen.ÿ ÿLaceration upper forehead.ÿ ÿStrain Lumb Back.ÿ ÿContusion upper ribs.ÿ ÿTrig Fingr.ÿ ÿContusion Right Foot.ÿ ÿInhalation Multiple Whole Body.ÿ ÿFlash Burn Right Eye.ÿþþÿWe felt we should inform you and your family,ÿ Mr. Garrett wrote, ÿthat the U.A.W. may obtain this personal and medical information.ÿþþþ
Source: NY Times
